The de-ranking of news on Facebook and “major platforms” has continued to cause trouble for the publisher of Daily Mirror and Express papers, hitting its online views.
Reach posted a year-on-year decline in page views of 33 per cent in the first quarter of the year due to the impact of the likes of Meta, which has been ranking user-generated content above news on its social media sites, including Facebook.
Last year, the media company reported that its digital revenue slumped over 16 per cent in the first half of 2023 due to changes in the way Facebook displays news content.
It said this decline was partially offset by the strengthening yield per page and that the reduction in referral traffic from the major platforms will lessen throughout the year.
Shares in the London-listed company jumped nearly eight per cent when the market opened on Thursday as it insisted trading remains “robust” despite the challenging environment, and is on track to deliver the full-year consensus forecast for adjusted operating profit of £97.6m.
But group revenue fell 6.7 per cent year-on-year in the first three months of 2024, as both print and digital sales dropped.
Jim Mullen, Reach chief executive said: “We have set the business up to succeed – the decision to take cost action early, alongside the continued implementation of the Customer Value Strategy is delivering a growing yield performance and driving results.
“This gives me confidence that we can continue to navigate current market conditions.”
“With events like the European Football Championships, Olympics and elections round the corner we have the opportunity to generate high levels of interest by entertaining and informing our audiences with brilliant journalism,” he added.